


Smile! You're on Camera.

by mozaics



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempted Kidnapping, Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone is here in someway, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, Jake and Claudette have so much puppy love and Danny is gonna ruin it, Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Rating May Change, Stalking, Texting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozaics/pseuds/mozaics
Summary: Claudette Morel doesn't have many friends, and she's not very social. She's a wallflower through and through, and doesn't expect much attention from anyone. But there is one thing about Claudette that no one really knows. Claudette Morel has a stalker, and he's very persistent.
Relationships: Claudette Morel/Jake Park, Danny "Jed Olsen" Johnson | The Ghost Face/Claudette Morel
Comments: 34
Kudos: 130





	1. The Texts

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on so many Danny/Claudette fics for forever now, and this is the first one I managed to spit out. I really don't know what I'm doing. Not beta'd, all mistakes are my own.

Sometimes Claudette dreams of home, but it’s different from the way that she last remembered it to be. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and at the top of them was a shadowed figure that didn’t talk and didn’t move. When she tries to walk away, down the hall, she’d always end up back at the stairs. Dread feels her heart, the longer she stares at the figure. She wants to scream and she wants to know what it is and why it’s haunting her. When she tries to speak nothing comes out by screams, and screams. 

When she wakes up, she’s back in her apartment. The windows are still too bright with the morning sun and it feels like she hasn’t gotten any sleep at all. She crawls out of bed, and almost wishes to be back home in Montreal, anywhere but here. But she knows that she can’t go home, not yet anyway. She’s so close to her degree, and she’s got a full ride. She’d have to work harder than before, but it’s worth it. Anything to prove her father was right about her, and make her mother stop worrying about her being so far away from home. 

Her routine is like clockwork, and the familiarity of it calms her down some. She feeds her cat, who is definitely not getting fat no matter how much Claudette is spoiling him. She waters every single plant that she owns, after dutifully checking their moisture and soil. She brushes her teeth, she showers, she gets dressed. If she weren’t already so rail thin, perhaps she would go for a run. Instead, she boots up her computer and chills out for a bit on her favorite forum.

She checks new posts, she reads through botany blogs. By the time she needs to leave for class, she feels comfortable in her skin and more like herself. Logic tells her that there are no shadowed figures lurking in her corner. She goes to school in a small city, held over by the small ski resort just across the mountain path. Nothing ever happens here besides the occasional drunk disorderly frat boy streaking nude down the main street. It was only a dream, and she does best to leave it at that. 

She listens to her voicemail before she walks to class. There is one from her mother, another from her aunt. They’re both almost too similar, something about her cousin’s birthday part and that he specifically wants her to come. She knows that she won’t make it, not because she has anything important to do … because she doesn’t want to go and she’ll make up some excuse not to be there. It is as simple as that. 

The last voicemail is from a number she doesn’t recognize. Claudette knows everyone that she has saved in her phone, she doesn’t have many friends and at first she assumes that it’s simply a robocall, a scammer of some sort out to get her money or to scare her into paying some back taxes that she definitely didn’t owe. She probably should just delete it, but something tells her to play it instead. Morbid curiosity and all, it might even be a wrong number. 

When hits play, nothing happens but the message is obviously going. She furrows her brow, confused. She tests the volume, and sees that it’s turned all the way up. Then she hears it, the unmistakable sound of breathing. Inhale, then exhale. Rinse and repeat.

Unconsciously, Claudette becomes aware of her own breathing and the mechanics of it. She looks down at her phone, at the message, and sees that it’s almost a full 30 seconds of message left. She scrubs through it, and even at the end of the message, there is just a inhale before it cuts off. She can’t stop staring at her phone, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She’s aware of every little movement, but none of the people that walk past her. Her chest tightens with fear. 

She looks up, looks around, but there’s no one there. When she checks again, she sees that the call was missed from last night , well after she had dozed off in bed. She stares at the screen, taking a moment to collect herself. People walk past, they hardly notice her. It’s comforting to see, because it’s easy to rationalize that it was probably a wrong number, probably just a prank. 

She looks at her phone once more, then she swipes her finger to delete the voicemail. She tucks her phone away and goes to class. She tries to put it out of her mind, but it still haunts her in some way .

* * *

“‘Detty! Are you going to Kate's party? I heard it’s going to be awesome!” Meg’s voice is shrill and loud, and Claudette always loved that about Meg. Everything about her was unapologetically her own. She didn’t hide, and she wasn’t shy. She was the complete opposite of Claudette, and that’s probably why they got along so well.

“U-Uhm, I don’t think so. I have a pretty big test at the end of the week, and I really need to study for it.” It was her usual excuse, Claudette simply didn’t think she would go to party at all. She hadn’t expected Meg to ask. 

“You always say that! You got out the last one, and Kate specifically invited you even though you keep blowing her off.”

Claudette flinches, but Meg isn’t wrong about what she’s saying. Claudette avoids parties like a plague, even though the few friends she has seemed to be into them these days. Claudette feared she didn’t have the social awareness to survive one. She knew if she messed up or embarrassed herself, everyone would know and they would talk and she’d never be able to live it down. She played it safe, she avoided them all together on principle.

“I know , I know -- B-but I just … I don’t know. I-I’ve never been to a party before.” She hopes that this will get Meg off her back, not because she doesn’t love her . She just doesn’t want to have this conversation.

“Yeah, I’m not accepting that even if it’s true. We’re your friends, ‘Detty, you can trust us we won’t let you go in blind.” No dice, Meg’s words not only reassure her, but they say that Claudette’s not going to easily get out of this party like she has all the others. “Come on, I’ll help you pick something out, and you know she did invite Jake -- Your resident recluse said he’d come if you’d come too.”

Claudette’s ears are hot, but her smile is genuine. She loved Meg, and it was easy to see things from her point of view when she wanted something. But the mention of Jake is a big plus for her. He was someone of the opposite sex that Claudette could stand to be around. He was also sweet, and they had been nurturing a bit of a thing. “A-Alright, if Jake’s gonna be there.”

“God! You two are _hopeless_ , But I’m happy you’re going. I’ll swing past after your classes”

“Alright, I’ll see you then.” 

Class isn’t as interesting as her conversations with Meg, But she’s always liked learning and she excels in her courses. She’s learned how to challenge her unique way of learning into techniques that work for her. She’s not like her mother, and she doesn’t try to hide who she is, because she can’t really change that. 

Paying attention in class is easy for her, because she’s invested in the knowledge that she can gain from her peers. She always sits close to the windows, typically in the back row of the seats. She likes to look out during lectures, whenever her mind does manage to wander. But the sunshine seems to rejuvenate her, and she rarely if ever falls asleep in class. 

Her mother had always boasted that she’s like a plant herself, and she follows the sun everywhere. Claudette could see how she would think that now that she was older. The lecture is on something that she knows, plus prep for the seed lab that they were going to start soon. In the back of her mind, she’s content with the going on and the prospect of a relatively easier semester than her last. She’d have to work hard, but she liked the toil. 

Her morning is going much better, and she even trails off to think about what she’s going to have for dinner. Then her phone vibrates by her elbow, and it startles her. She moves to take a peak, assuming it might just be some meme that Meg had thought to post in their group chat. It’s been pretty quiet all morning, but then again only Meg and herself prefer morning classes. 

But it’s not Meg's number that reads across the lock screen when her phone comes to life in her hands. It’s an unknown number, one that’s she’s never seen before and that she doesn’t have saved in her phone. _Good Morning_ , it reads like whoever is texting her is an old friend.

She probably should delete it, and though she hasn’t fully forgotten about the message from this morning, it's a different number and she’s curious. It wouldn’t hurt to reply, but she doesn’t. If it’s a wrong number, they’ll figure it out when she doesn’t reply. She pushes her phone away, going back to her notes, scribbling this and that in the margin’s as her professor’s voice comes back into focus.

Not even 5 minutes go past before her phone buzzes again, drawing her eye. It’s the same number. _Good Morning, Claudette_ , it reads this time.

Confusion wraps around her heart, and she briefly wonders if one of few friends had gotten a new number and didn’t let her know. She doesn’t recognize the way that they are typing, but she doesn’t discount that she might know them . They used her name, so it definitely wasn’t for another person. She picks up her phone, hesitant, before replying. _Good morning_ , she sends first before adding swiftly in a follow up, _Who is this?_

The typing bubble appears instantly, not even 10 seconds after her message is marked as delivered and then read. Whoever was on the other side was waiting and reading all of this in real time. They were waiting for her to reply.

 _A friend. F_ ollowed by, _How’s class?_

The answer isn’t enough for Claudette, and it even annoys her. By now she’s been paying more attention to her phone than to the lecture, and the answer’s she’s getting makes her furrow her brow. _What friend? Do I know you ?_

_Maybe. You never answered my question._

_You didn’t answer mine._

Claudette sees that they're typing, and she figures that she just shouldn’t bother answering again. It’s probably just a joke, one of her friends or someone who got hold of her number and is trying to prank her. She’s taking it too seriously and letting it rile her up and that’s probably what they want. Her phone buzzes, but this time she doesn’t pick it up to read the text. It buzzes again, and again, and again. Fear twists itself in belly as she eyes her phone, one of her classmates turns to look at her oddly. 

She scrambles to pick it up, before anyone else turns to see what all the noise is about. _21_ new messages, and when she unstacks them, she can see that they’re mostly just her name. _'Claudette'_ repeated over and over again. The most recent one, the last one, is the most chilling. **_DON’T IGNORE ME._ **

Claudette feels sweat gathering on her forehead, and she doesn’t know what to say at first. But even before she can type a message, she can see that whoever it is , is typing again. _There you are, how are we going to be friends if you don’t read my messages._

She throws her head up, looking around the room, trying to figure out how they know. She doesn’t have read receipts turned on, she knows she doesn't. The only other way is if they say her look at her phone. But everyone in class is either talking among themselves or paying attention to the professor as he wraps up the lecture for the evening. No one is looking at her, there are people on their phone, but she doesn’t think any of them is the person who’s texting her. 

Still she feels **_watched_** , as though the person who’s sending her these messages is sitting right next to her, or peeking over her shoulder. The hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she feels sick to her stomach. She finally gets up the courage to send something back, typing with shaking thumbs. _What do you want?_

The reply is instant. _To be your friend._

There are a million things that Claudette wanted to send back, but none of them seem to be the right thing to **SAY**. She desperately wants to know who this is, why they were harassing her, what they really wanted. To be her friend didn’t seem like the whole story, and even then the words seemed ominous. For how innocuous they read, she knew that there was something more and it made her tremble.

“Ms. Morel?” 

The voice makes her jump, before she realizes it’s just her professor who has walked halfway across the room to get her attention. She looks up, and the fear must read on her face because the man’s own twists into something akin to worry and exhaustion. “Are you alright? Class ended 5 minutes ago.”

“U-uh, Yes. I’m alright, Professor Williams, I’m s-sorry for keeping you.” She replies, trying to wipe the stressful fear and worry off her face.

“It’s alright, did you get all the notes?”

“Yes, I’m really excited about the seed lab, I think I’ll be able to get one of the _Nepenthes thorelii_ to bloom this semester.”

“Good! I’m glad, I can’t wait to see all of you hard work.”

Claudette smiles and gathers her things, but the short conversation does nothing to put her at ease. Her phone doesn’t buzz again, and there’s no new texts for her to read as she leaves class for another lecture hall. She checks over and over again, and thinks irrationally that it might be it -- everything might be over. She sits in the front of her lecture hall this time, since there are no windows to sit by, and she feels safer there for some reason. Her phone buzzes half way through the lecture, and a sense of dread spikes in her heart. 

She doesn’t know what she’s going to say or do if it’s _that_ person again, but when she checks it’s only Meg. It's some meme about an ancient cartoon Claudette has never personally watched before. It's inane, but it calms her down. Managing to return some sense of normality to her life. She decides not to block the number that was texting her, figuring it would be a waste of energy. It seemed like they got bored and left her alone anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying not to over plan this one. There's going to be a tentative plot, and the tags will change as the story progresses. I really like where I'm going with this, so stay with me. I'm gonna try to post another chapter later on today, if not tomorrow.


	2. After Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party Prep, and The look into the eyes of someone's secret admirer.

Class zips by in a flash, Claudette keeps herself busy with her notes and the occasional text from her best friend. She’s able to settle more firmly into a comfortable place, eager to put the situation before behind her. She can’t forget about it, but it’s easy to ignore it in favor of more pressing matters. 

The party looms into sight as the school week comes to a close, she knows that if there are no impromptu study groups or tutor requests that pop up, she’ll be going no matter what. As noon rolls around, and she drags herself out of her lab into the fresh air, she can’t help but feel rejuvenated yet again as brown eyes adjust to the bright evening. 

Meg asked her to meet up after practice, and Claudette had nothing better to do than loiter around ‘till then. The track and field center was across campus, and it was a pleasant enough walk all together . The sun is high, and the gentle breeze makes decent enough sweater weather. Her phone chimes in her hand, and the smile on her face is a sharp contrast from the paralyzing fear that had gripped her before.

With her and Megs earlier antics, it was probably Feng Min telling them to to knock it off. She complained that everyone wasn't a morning person like herself or Meg, and often went off on them when she woke up to a torrent of notifications. 

But her smile widens, especially when she sees the name that lights up her phone. Jake and her hardly ever text, but when they do, meg complains they’re sweet enough to rot teeth. Claudette loved texts from him, and when she did have conversations with him when he was feeling particularly social , she made sure to appreciate them twice as much. _Hey Claudette, you going to Kate's party tonight?_

 _Yeah! Meg won’t let me off without physical harm this time!_ 😔

Jake, Meg, Dwight, and Herself had a special sort of friendship. They were the first friends she made since she got to college. She’s known Dwight and Meg forever, with Jake being the newest addition, but it felt like they had all been friends since the beginning of time. _Thomas is brutal. She cornered me and threatened my life if i didn’t show up._

Claudette snorts, and the grin on her face almost hurts. Jake always accepted her pauses and her stutters. He never made fun of her for getting overwhelmed, and though Meg and Dwight treated her the same way, It felt special with Jake. It was childish, but she tended to think of him as a knight in shining armor. All her years of alienation, bullying, and therapy in high school had finally equaled out in some good karma. _I’m heading over to meet meg after practice._ She followed up. _I’m her number one fan after all ._ 📣

She waited for Jake’s reply, she could see that he was typing after all. Claudette was sure she could dedicate a whole day just talking or texting him. Her whole presence seems to be absorbed in her phone,. Her therapist always gently guided her away from her dependency on social media, but Claudette always found it easier to text and type than to talk. Years with a persistent stutter had made talking one of her least favorite pastimes. **_LOL_ ** _, president of the Meg Thomas fan club? Meg Thomas super fan?_

A banner falls just as Jake sends his own message, and that banner is almost a taunt. That unknown number from earlier is staring her right in the face, and the dread that seems to be inspired by it overshadows the happiness that Claudette had reserved especially for Jake. It was a simple enough message, but the paranoia it seeded was quick growing and poisonous. 

_You’re so cute when you smile like that_ 😊🖤

* * *

Danny knows her schedule like the back of his hand. He prides himself on working out the odds and ends of things that he probably shouldn’t know. He has always believed that was what made him an excellent journalist. But this wasn’t work, this was pleasure and pastime; This was love.

He watches from his newish sedan, he switches from his high powered SLR to his binoculars; These tools were interchangeable in his need to make sure he didn’t miss any little detail and to capture all the pleasant little moments between them. 

She wakes at _4 am_ ; He’s awake and outside earlier enough to be there just as the light of her south facing window is illuminated by inside lights. He could imagine her routine down to the detail. She fed her cat, and changed it’s liter . Then she would take her time, and check on her plants -- watering them, fertilizing them. 

Weather permitting, he might get a glance of her early before she drew the blinds, coming out in her shorts to put some of those plants out on the balcony before she left for class. By then it would be 6:35, she was punctual and hardly ever deviated . Danny liked that about her.

Her first class is at _7_ , and she is always the first to arrive. She sits by the window toward the back, and he figures that she just likes the morning light as the sun begins to properly wake up itself. Danny has never been much of a morning person himself, but he finds it in himself to appreciate the way that it rises and reflects off her cheekbones today. The picture he snaps will be a fine addition to his growing collection.

Today was special, today would be the first day that they finally take their relationship to the next step. It would be the first time he really communicated with his girl . Danny was giddy, he had got her number off one of the talkative student counselors. Flash a press badge, and a make up a pretty smile and story, and you could get just about anything. 

But he couldn’t get her with all of that, so he would try a little harder, and he would be his best self for her.

 _8:30_ , He gets to watch the way she reacts to his texts and his voicemail. She’s standoffish, but he can understand that. She’s not used to the attention, and he had admittedly lost his cool. Danny never meant to scare her, but he never liked being ignored. He’ll make it up to her, he was sure he would. 

He gives her a bit of breathing room when she leaves that class. He read in a magazine once that he shouldn’t push the issue, and his girl was fragile. He sticks around a bit longer, making sure that Professor of her’s treats her right. He also knows there are no windows in her last classes besides her lab, and the lab is on the other side of campus. So he waits , somewhat impatiently, of course. He misses her the entire time, misses the way that her face lights up when she’s happy. He can’t wait to be causing that sort of happiness.

Claudette comes back into his sight hours later ,and he’s feeling like a new man. Her smile makes him feel rejuvenated, and he wonders when they finally meet face to face will she let him take as many pictures as he wanted. 

He’s quite sure that she was made for him, She was his sun and he was starving for her rays. As melodramatic as it seemed, it was par the course for Danny, and he got attached so easily and sometimes it turned out bad. It was easy to get into one sided relationships with people who didn’t really care about him or used him. But Claudette was different, he could tell.

The snap of shutters, and another picture taken. He’ll have fond memories to write about this one.

He can take out her smile as clear as day, and he can see that she’s looking at something on her phone, and texting someone. He knows that she doesn’t have many friends, her social media posts always seem to contain the same names, and he’s never noticed anyone from her hometown reach out and wish her a happy birthday over the years besides her parents.

Irrationally, Danny thinks that he must be the cause. It would make sense , he had kept her company all morning and she had texted back and seemed somewhat receptive to his attention. Sure they had their little spat, but what new couples didn't! She must have finally understood his intentions, and understood why she made him upset. His girl was brilliant after all .

He pulls out his phone, pausing momentarily to admire his lock screen. It was a picture of her that he had found while digging through her Facebook. Which reminded him to make a note to talk to her about setting her media to private, never know what weirdos are skulking about online. 

He liked the way the flower crown sat on her wild dreads, her smile especially; He liked waking up to it in the morning, it made all of his alarms ten time as bearable. It made the days worth it just to get a peak of it during lunch or downtime.

 _You’re so cute when you smile like that_ 😊🖤 _,_ he sends after much debating about whether or not he’s too old to be using emojis. 

Regardless, Danny is excited to see her face, to bask in the knowledge of her knowing that he was there. He wasn’t going to leave her alone, not until he got bored and he didn’t get bored easily. He was in it for the long haul, and if by some chance he did start to feel the onslaught of boredom: He would just have to find something to spice their relationship up once more.

* * *

Claudette doesn’t want to reply but when she scrolls up just slightly, she can see the outcome of ignoring the messages last time. She also can discern from the message that they’re watching her. She taps the banner, sending out a frantic reply. Her fingers are shaking. _Are you watching me??_

_Of course. I have to make sure you’re okay. How was class?_

Claudette felt sick to her stomach, though her fear was veined with rage. How could they be making sure she was okay when they were compromising her privacy and and personal safety. She deflected, her brow furrowing. _You need to stop watching me before I contact the police._

 _And why would you go and do that? I haven’t done anything wrong!_ Claudette could read between the lines. **_Yet_ ** was left unsaid, but she knew it was _implied_. 

_Did you leave me a voicemail?_ She wanted to know. But she had a feeling they were connected. Before she could open her deleted messages, she got her confirmation. 

_Yes._ There was a brief pause. _You didn’t answer your phone. It’s perfectly normal to leave a voicemail._

Perfectly normal, it felt like this guy was seeing the world completely different than any normal person. She dipped around a group of frat boys before turning down the path toward the gym. She tried to channel some of Meg’s infectious confidence. _Don’t contact me anymore, and if you do I’m going to block you and call the cops_

 _Listen, Claudette. I really like you and I know I come on strong._ There was a brief pause in the messages, though she paused to shoot a message to Meg to let her know she was here. _I don’t take rejection well and I really just want to be your friend._

Claudette scoffed. Who did this creep think she was, she might be softhearted but she wasn’t a fool. _Goodbye._

There was a special kind of relief that came from opening the numbers information and swiftly blocking it. She internally scolds herself for not doing so sooner. She recalled the age old lesson that she learned online, don’t give attention to people who were looking for a reaction. She knew better and yet she had fallen down the hole. But it’s over now, she’s not going to spend time and brain power on the creep anymore. 

Looking up from her phone, she sees the tell tale swing of braids coming into view. She cups her hands around her mouth calling to the girl. “Meg!”

“‘Dette!” The redhead turned her way, her face lighting up. “You ready to head out?”

“Yeah. Got all my stuff and I have some of that leftover tofu pasta you like”

“Good. I heard the lunch room was packed and I was gonna grab something from the vending machines.” Meg looped her arm around Claudette’s shoulders, knocking their hips together. 

“Wow and jeopardize that figure _and_ your season, I’m going to have to report that to Coach Evan.”

“Oh shut up, that old geezer couldn’t stop me if he tried. It’s my lesbian right to have a cheat day.”

Claudette dissolves into a fit of giggles as they trace their way down concrete paths off campus. Claudette lives relatively close, further into the city and Meg lives on the other side of town with her Mom. More often than not Claudette would end up there on the weekends if neither of them had anything to do. Ms. Thomas was like her other mom, and treated Claudette no different than her biological daughter. 

Meg had a spare key to her apartment, but Claudette still fishes her keys out of her bag. Her charms bang against her wrist as she moves to unlock her bottom lock, drawing Meg’s gaze. 

“Hey that’s a new one. Did you make it?”

Claudette shakes her head as she opens her door and flicks on her lights. Meg follows close behind, toeing off her shoes as Claudette works on her boots. “No. Jake got this one for me while he was abroad last week.”

Meg playfully cups a hand around her stomach and mouth, faking a gag. Claudette responds with a roll of her eyes. Cheesewhiz manages to launch himself from off the top of the fridge, bounding over and waiting for Meg to give him the scratches he deserved. 

“Cheesie!!” The track star exclaims, scooping the orange tabby right up and spoiling him with kisses. “Alright, ‘Dette, what were you thinking for tonight?”

“U-uh, I dunno. A sweater and some pants.”

Meg’s response is immediate, her over dramatic groan making the cat in her arms turn its head to look up at her. “ _Boring_. It’s a house party, dude. Not a study group with the chess club.”

“I’m not in the chess club.”

“My point stands, I want to see some skin. I know exactly what those legs look like and they’re perfect.” Meg nods sagely, as though no one can deny her logic. “Not to mention your ass, I’m exercising my executive best friend rights: no stuffy clothes.”

“Okay, okay, my god! What about those shorts.” Claudette tried to compromise, quickly adding. “With some leggings or something.”

“Replace the leggings with those sheer thigh highs Kate gave you, and that sparkly crop top you wore to that science fair and I’ll allow it.”

“It was an award ceremony, Megan. I invited you to it.”

“You say _tomato_ , I say _nerd con_. It’s the same thing!”

Claudette flips her off playfully which earns a scandalized gasp from Meg, who covers the purring cat’s eyes. “In front of my child!?”

Claudette throws the outfit on, after a quick shower, and can’t help but admire herself in her dresser’s mirror. She looks pretty, if not sexy. It’s not something that she could ever use to describe herself. The new descriptor comes with some sort of confidence that she’s never really felt. Sure, she’s gone out before, but she’s never really felt like this. It’s bold of her, but that surge of confidence has her reaching for one of her riskier shades of lipstick. Bright purple, matte to offset the glitter in her top. She even dares to switch her glasses today.

“How do I look, Your highness” Grabbing her boots from the closet, she makes the short walk down the hall, casually leaning against the wall. Meg looks up from where she’s petting Cheesewhiz, the cat having found the most comfortable place to sit being right on Meg’s chest as she lounged. “How do I look, Your highness”

“Oh my god!” Meg waggles her eyebrows, playfully. “Jake is about to have a heart attack, you’ll be able to ask him finally the ultimate question!”

“And that is?”

“Is that a crow in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

Claudette snorts back a laugh, walking over to pick up her wayward son off her guffawing best friend. She deposits the cat into the armchair before leaning over to press a finger into Meg’s side. “ _Please_ go shower, If I’m doing this I want to get it over already!”

“Alright, Alright! I brought a change of clothes so I didn’t have to borrow one of Saint Dette’s maiden sweaters.”

“God, Please Shut up!”

Laughter trails off into the bathroom, and the atmosphere is friendly and warm. There is excitement on her face. She hopes Jake will like her outfit, but she’s sure he will anyway. Jake has never said anything bad about her, despite him being outspoken and her being a self-admitted mess.

Claudette tries not to get anxious about it, and she’s saved by the bell so to speak. Meg comes running out of the bath half naked, Before promptly getting dressed in the living room where Claudette can redo her braids into something decent. They leave the apartment together after kissing Cheesewhiz goodnight and turning on his favorite late night show. 

They pile into Claudette’s old Subaru and take off, Meg blasting her pre-party mix because she has aux rights since Claudette is chauffeuring. Neither of them notice the sedan that pulls into the lane behind them, or the young man behind the wheel. The window opens, and two pieces of plastic are flicked out. The broken sim card hits the road, forgotten for the night, the girls making the trip crosstown to their little college party, the Camry behind them following turn for turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one REALLY got away from me, and it spiraled out of control before I knew it. I'm experimenting little inserts of Danny's point of view, but those breaks might be replaced from time to time with insight to Claudette's social media posts.


	3. The Party I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party Meetings, where a man gets to meet the most important thing in his life

Kate’s place wasn’t that long of a drive from Claudette’s apartment. She lived by herself in a bungalow that she rented and let the school fill the empty rooms with the international students that couldn’t get a dorm. She used her music money to pay for what the school didn’t pay for. All the girls thought that the house next door was empty, though Kate always claimed that a weird clown man lurked around. No one had ever seen the guy but her so they all just called her paranoid. 

“So why are you gonna say to Jake when he falls head over heels for you?” Meg asked, scrolling through her twitter feed apparently. 

“The same thing you said to Nea since you’ve had a crush on her.” Claudette replied, making sure she turned off on to the right street. 

“God damn, ‘Dette, that was harsh.”

“I’ve admittedly been sitting on that one. “

Meg swiped at a fake tear, trying to smother a grin. “You’ve learned from the best, young Padawan.”

“And here, I thought you defeated nerd culture. Jock rights and all.”

“Star Wars is pop culture! Mainstream!”

Claudette playfully slapped her hand along the steering wheel, giggling as she turned down Kate’s packed street. It was a struggle to even find somewhere to park. The party was obviously a lot bigger than either of them had expected. 

“Wow, Kate’s really throwing a rager, huh?”

“Looks like it.” Claudette was already having serious second thoughts about the whole venture but as soon as she was parked Meg was ushering her out of the car. “Did Jake convince Dwight to come.”

“Yeah, apparently he also had to go down to that pizza place and put the fear of god into his piece of shit coworkers too.”

Claudette and Meg walked down the cold street, their shoulders pressed together and their breath amassing a great white cloud of fog. Without the sun high in the sky, the afternoon was cooling off rapidly and Claudette suddenly wished she had brought any type of coat. 

The party had spilled over onto Kate’s lawn and the well into the neighbors. People seem to conjugate into little groups, mingling and rubbing shoulders ; hands busy with the customary red solo cups. 

With barely a foot on the lawn, Claudette was already feeling self conscious. There seemed to be too many people, and she didn’t do well in a crowd. Every time she dared a look around it seemed like there were twice as many eyes on her and even though she knew that there was no one paying specific attention to her, she felt awkward and out of place. Her stomach rolled, the irrational fear that she was the center of attention and none of it was positive was steadily starting to steal her breath away. 

“M—Maybe I should… I-I don’t know i-if I want to…” She hated the way that her words seemed to stick to the back of her throat, and even that was about to send her spiraling into a panic. 

But Meg noticed, or at least could read her well enough. She was quick to offer reassurance. “It’s alright, ‘Dette, you’re just here for your friends. Fuck the rest of ‘em.”

Claudette reluctantly nodded her head, reaching for Meg’s hand. Childish as it seemed, she instantly felt better as soon as their fingers intertwined. The two of them stuck close as they picked their way through the crowd. Claudette swore that Meg and Kate knew everyone, based purely on the fact that one out of every two people they passed turned to greet her or called out as they made their walk up into the house. 

“Don’t look like that.” Meg elbowed her in the side playfully, grinning when she turned to look back. “They can wait.”

“Are you s-sure? I really don’t mind. I’m sure that I can find Feng Min or someone.”

“You’re my best friend, dude. I’m not just going to throw you to the wolves.”

It warned Claudette to her core, and she no doubt is grinning when they finally do come across a familiar face. Feng Min was camped out in front of her old Macbook, queuing up the music blasting out of Kate’s nice surround sound system.

“Feng they really have you DJ duty this time?!” Meg exclaimed, throwing an arm around the smaller woman’s shoulder. 

“It was that or drinks, and Kate is scared I’ll poison or kill someone after last time.” Feng shrugs, leaning back in her chair. 

Claudette absently straightens Feng’s messy fringe. The stoic girls face marginally softening when she speaks. Their friends always claimed she had a soft spot for Claudette. “Explains why she stopped calling you her go to bartender”

“Not my fault King can’t hold his hard liquor, and I’m not going to cut him off and risk him starting a fight.” Feng loops a friendly arm around Claudette’s waist, leaning into the pair of them. “Guessing Thomas worked her charm on you?”

“I did!” Meg jumps in before Claudette can answer. “And what of it!”

“Just surprised you have any charm at all, Thomas. You always strike out.”

“Oh my god, eat me, Min! I’m plenty charming, ladies love me.”

“Keep telling yourself that, it might come true.”

Claudette shook her head. “Oh my god, you two are ridiculous.”

Despite their banter, their friend group was thick as thieves. They hadn’t known each other for long, Nea and Feng were foreign exchange students, but it felt like they had known each other forever. Claudette herself never felt pressured to be someone she’s not, unlike high school or the years before that. While she much rather be home, she was comfortable with her friends and less strained than before. 

“Where’s the lady of the hour?” Claudette asked, swiftly cutting into the conversation that had cane to playful slap fighting.

“I think she saw Jeff come in and fucked off somewhere.” Feng rolled her eyes, leaning forward conspiratorially “They might be starting a band.”

Claudette and Meg have enough theoretical sense to gasp, even though everyone knew that’s exactly what they’ve been doing for the past 6 months. Kate wasn’t exactly subtle and gushed about it often. 

“Nea is on drinks, since I’m banned.” Feng continued, turning back to squint at her iTunes account, swiftly queuing another somewhat popular song. 

Claudette shot a glance at Meg, seeing that she was obviously excited at the mention of her crush. Claudette knew that Meg wouldn’t leave once she had promised they wouldn’t split up. As much as she dreaded navigating a social situation alone, Claudette didn’t want Meg to miss her shot. 

“You should go find Nea, Meg” Claudette prodded.

“Huh? But what about you?!” 

“I’ll find somewhere to hang till Jake or Dwight get here.

Meg’s brow furrowed. “You sure?”

“Go ’head, I’ll be alright. it’s your chance and god knows I’ll hear about it for the next week if you don’t.”

Meg shuffles forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek over Feng’s head. “Thanks, Claud, you’re a saint and I love you.”

Claudette just waved her off, returning the affection and watching her disappear into the packed crowd. As soon as her track jacket disappears, she releases a sigh she didn’t realize she was holding. 

“You really are a saint” Feng Min pipes up, looping her arm from around Claud. 

“Yeah! I’m g-gonna have to learn how to enjoy social interaction on my own anyway.”

“Well...you know where to find me if you need a breather. 

Claudette smiled, leaning down to kiss the gamer’s cheek. Feng likes to act like she didn’t care, but there was a softie under all that bluster and stoicness. 

“Thanks, Feng. I love you.”

The girl didn’t reply, shooing her off while muttering about her image. Claudette would have laughed if she wasn’t trying to steady her shaky nerves with a deep breath. She reluctantly moved forward, letting herself get lost into the crowd before she could second guess herself. 

* * *

Claudette knew that wandering off on her own probably wasn’t the best idea she’s ever had. She didn’t really know anyone at the party, and the ones that she did she wasn’t close enough to just amble up and not be awkward about it.

She had done what she always did best, picked a corner and hoped that the night passed by quickly. She was glad that she had bought her phone in, tucked into the back pocket of her shorts. It would be easy enough to check her forums and hope that there were some new questions to answer or someone tooling around late at night and could keep her company.

Most of her social media was hours ago posts from people retweeting funny memes and her forums where pretty much bare. But there was one or two things she could answer, and while it wasn’t good eating it should at least help her pass some time. 

She had only just gotten ready to type out a rather concise reply about her major and research when a shadow fell over her, brightening the glare of her phone screen. 

“‘Sup, Cutie.” A deep voice spoke up, startling her. It wasn’t anyone she knew, she couldn’t place the voice at all.

She looked up, blinking at the tall young man before her. Wearing some sort of Jogging attire, he cut a handsome figure with his dark skin and his cut jaw. A part of Claudette was tempted to look over her shoulder and see if he was talking to someone behind her. But the wall was still firmly at her back and more pressingly she seemed to be boxed in. 

“Uhm, H-hi?” She cursed the way the word got stuck on her tongue, but it seemed to charm the man, the quirk of his lips tilting higher. “D-do I know you?”

The man chuckled, leaning further into her space, making her draw her phone closer to her chest. His eyebrows waggled suggestively. “No, but I would like to get to know you.”

For some reason, the thought made her laugh. They were probably the same age, if not a year between them and Claudette being the elder. He obviously had the confidence that Claudette’s early ascent into college never granted her. She watched his brown eyes flicker to her lips then back to her eyes. 

“Oh yeah, really?”

“I’m serious. You were standing there looking fine and deep in your thoughts and I thought I’d come ask about them.”

He seemed to be line after line. Claudette couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “You’re r-really laying it on thick.”

“Can blame me, I watched you walk over and you were hefty to say the least, Ma’”

Claudette’s ears are burning, and she briefly wonders if she’s really imagining this in some second hand high from the hint of weed in the air. She’s flattered but her thoughts immediately turn to her antisocial survivalist. She couldn’t imagine Jake saying anything like that to her. 

“ _Wow._ ” She began, crossing her arms and hoping her closed off stance would send a message. “F-Flattering as that may be, I’m here with someone. ”

It was a classic dismissal. She had read once that making herself out to be in a group would discourage any pushy encounters. She had always just found the thought of social engagement interesting. She hadn’t thought it would ever happen to her, but maybe one of her friends. The boy sucks his teeth, rolling his eyes. 

“If you here with someone, why they got you waiting like this?” 

That gives her obvious pause, making her wonder what she could say. It wasn’t technically a lie and it wasn’t the whole truth. “They had to step out real quick. They’ll be back.”

“Alright. Let me keep you company ‘till they get back, then. Maybe I’ll convince you to ride out the rest of the night with me instead.”

Claudette has to admit that he’s fine, but she’s definitely itching for him to find something else to do or someone else to bother. She knows that there are many single girls around, probably some twice as pretty as her. But he obviously started to settle in, the closer he seemed to lean in the more it seemed like he was surrounding her. 

* * *

Danny hated house parties, if not for all the loud sounds, but for the drunken teens and adults alike that made a fool of themselves at all times of the night. Along his tenure at many different newspapers, he’s covered story after story. They all lacked flavor or interest, most of them just the same thing one weekend to another. 

Girl roofied at house party, Boy assaulted by frat members, Teens die at hazing ritual gone wrong, and all the other sordid outcomes. They’d typically make the front page, cause some outrage, and then the public would swiftly forget and another party was thrown the following week. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam

But he couldn’t ignore that there was some good about the drunken ragers that stupid college kids were prone to throwing. This one had a few perks already. He got to see his favorite botanist dressed down, and he was able to do what he did best: Get lost in a crowd. 

He hadn’t had the privilege of getting to watch Claudette sleep or undress. Her blinds were always closed and she obviously liked her privacy and he could respect that. This party was a chance for him to get to see another part of her. Something to commit to memory. He hoped that it wasn’t too different, he didn’t want her to change too much. But he liked a girl with layers, and Claudette had them. 

He always speculated that under all her layers of stuffy clothing, she was hiding a pretty modest body. He had to admit that those shorts certainly did accent the curve of her ass, and those thigh highs were to die for. They did nothing to hide those long legs, and that delighted him. He made a small note of the situation in the little pad he kept tucked in his back pocket with his wallet. His collection of Claudette facts was coming more and more detailed. 

Honestly Danny hadn’t planned on following the two girls into the left. He was still dining at the audacity of having his number blocked. Not many victims got that far, and if they did he was quick to anger, and quicker to act. 

But Claudette wasn’t a victim, she was something so much more. She was special, and he was quite certain she needed him as much as he needed her. He was eager to further their relationship, though he wasn’t irrational and impulsive. He had to work for his prize, and he couldn’t skip any of the steps. 

Running fingers through unruly curls, he wove through the crowd easily. He might be older, but it was easy for him to become another vaguely familiar face. He dodges a few passes, a few touchy women and over confident men. His mind is laser focused on the one woman that mattered. Though all the passing attention was a much needed boost for his already overgrown ego. 

It’s not hard to find her, and he does expect the redhead to be lingering about, but he doesn’t expect the man. He’s no one Danny has personally seen or has seen on Claudette’s social media. He would back off to watch and stew on the whole situation. But he can see Claudette’s face under the boy’s arm. She looks uncomfortable and it’s obvious she wanted out of the situation. It’s his chance to shine, maybe win a few points. Maybe he’d think the boy if he didn’t gut him first.

“Hey Babe” he speaks up, loud enough to startle both the parties. “Didn’t mean to lose ya’, thought I told you to stay put over there.”

He stares into the young man’s brown eyes until he seems to get the idea and back off. 

“Sorry, babe, didn’t think you were being real when you said you was with someone.”

Danny is sure that the curve of his smile is just the right amount of kind to be pass as non-threatening. Even though the muscle under his left eye briefly twitches even as the boy begins to walk off not without a wave at the confused but relieved girl. 

“What a jackass.” He mutters, loud enough for the girl to hear.

Claudette laughs, and Danny can’t help but feel a little bit less annoyed. “Y-yeah, he was just a bit pushy.”

“Looked like you needed an out, hope you don’t mind.”

Claudette’s smile was bright and glorious. Danny had thought the purple lipstick was a bit much at first, but his mind was slowly devolving into thoughts of if it smudged and how nice it looked on her. He was really gone for this girl, and it wasn’t really a new sensation for him — but it was always exhilarating when he found another muse.

“N-no I don’t mind, you really helped me out.” Claudette toyed with one of the dreads framing her face. “I-I’m Claudette, by the way.”

“Jed Olsen.” Danny couldn’t help but let that facade slot into place. This town was new, but this situation wasn’t. He was always prepared with a new name, a new way to handle himself. Jed felt natural, and he could easily like it twice as much with the way that she repeated it .

“Jed? Is that short for something? _Jedediah_? ” 

“ _Ouch_ , Jedediah! My parents might have been assholes but not _that_ bad! ”

Claudette laughs, her hand coming up to cover her mouth and hide her smile from him. One point for Danny, it seems. He’s incredibly proud of himself, but he wishes that she wouldn’t hide from him. She doesn’t know it, yet, but he loves every single facet of her. He’s only seen her laugh or smile like this one or two times from afar since he’s started courting her, but it was different now that he was causing it; it was special. God, he wished he had his camera on him right now.

“I-I haven’t seen you around before, are you a senior?” Claudette was right to the point, but her questions weren’t suspicious. 

“Alumni, actually. I’m doing a little student teaching, working on the local paper.” He wasn’t too old to pass as a student, he just didn’t want to. He picked his story well, well enough where she wouldn’t ask questions if they _conveniently_ ran into each other in the future. “Majored in Journalism, my minor was psychology. ”

“Oh, c-cool! I’m a double major, Biology and Botany. A bit redundant, but I’m covering my b-bases.”

“Oh yeah? Have you heard about the community garden around here? I heard it was getting a lot of attention, I was thinking of doing a piece of it.”

“Yeah, actually I lead that project with one of my professors!”

Danny, of course, was privy to this information. He had become interested in the Botanist when he had been scoping out the little college town after migrating from the city over. It was a change of pace, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying it so far. “Oh yeah? I hate to mix business with pleasure, but this is a steal for me. You mind if we exchange numbers. I really would love to get a chance to sit down with you.”

“Uhm...”Claudette seemed to shy away from the attention he was heaping on her, and briefly he wondered if he had made a misstep. Before he could offer some diffusing words, she spoke up. “Sure, w-we need all the exposure as we can get.”

Danny is glad she didn’t ask for his phone, just giving her number and waiting for him to shoot a text from his brand burner number. He supposed he would be sitting with this current sim for a little bit, now. Danny was sure to keep his phone angled away from her, best to keep her from seeing his wallpaper in any fashion. 

“Thanks, Claudette. I look forward to talking to you about that. Sorry for turning it to work, really. I get a bit over excited for a scoop.”

“It’s okay, I really don’t mi—”

Claudette's words would be cut off by a sudden calling of her name. Danny didn’t recognize the voice, but Claudette obviously did. Unlike the friendly openness in her face, her whole body seemed to brighten and light up when she turned toward the man that appeared through the crowd. Messy hair, and suspicious dark eyes. A tall young man that almost rivaled Danny’s own height. _Who the fuck was he_ , is all Danny could think of in the moment.

“Jake! Did you just get here?” Claudette ducked around Danny, gifting the boy with all the attention that Danny had just held to himself. He was trying not to be jealous, but ire was building like a tight pressure in his temple. 

“A bit ago, Had to drop Dwight off somewhere that wasn’t Nea’s collection of bad drinks, so I wouldn’t have to drag his drunk ass home later on.” Jake’s deep voice did nothing for Danny’s waning patience, and building ire. _Couldn’t he just fuck off already?_

Claudette seemed to speak so easily to the man, and he to her. Danny wondered if he was just one of her few friends. They didn’t look romantic, and Danny didn’t remember any love struck or pining posts on any of her social media or her forums. Danny didn’t have a problem with that, suddenly banishing his jealousy and ire as foolish. Claudette was his girl, he gave her more attention romantically than anyone had ever done before in her life; that was sure.

“Come on, I was looking for you.” Jake’s words were focused on Claudette, but those dark serious eyes suddenly flicker to where Danny was definitely eyeing the interaction a bit too closely, bordering on staring. “A guy from one of your classes?”

“Oh? This is Jed, he helped me out a bit a-ago and wanted to do a piece of the Gardens.” 

Danny’s smile twitched, the introduction sounded like a minimization of his actions. It was a real blow to his ego. “Hey, nice to meet you.”

Danny reached a hand out to shake the other guy’s, but Jake didn’t return the favor. His mouth was set into a serious line, that twitched slightly only when he returned his gaze back to the girl after eyeing Danny. “You coming?”

“Yeah!” Claudette turned, waving shyly to Danny. “B-bye! Hope to hear from you!”

Danny barely got out a reply before Jake was leading the girl away from him. To be honest, he’s not surprised; If anyone had an internal barometer on someone with somewhat ill intent, it would probably be that guy. But he wasn’t too worried, the man didn’t seem like Claudette’s type much less a rival. Instead he let himself fall back into the fact that the object of his obsession had willingly given him a way to contact her. He was winning favor with her, and that was important to him. He’d have to play their conversations carefully this time, he was still annoyed at being blocked but he could fix this situation.

She knew him now, and he could work his way well into her heart and into her home. And once he had those leeways, freely given at that, nothing could stop him from getting exactly what he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRSTLY : if you had any ideas for prompts ( featuring claudette, because I really wanna flesh out her ship tags and character tags, Feel free to leave them in your comments or on my curious cat ( the username is the same as my name here! )
> 
> Sorry, this one was really confusing me with pacing and what I wanted to do, because I really wanted to wrap the party plotline up in one big chapter but it was really overwhelming me. So I think I'm gonna split it into two parts and then move on after the second plot. Hopefully you guys won't miss the anonymous texting plot line that I wrapped up here. I liked it, but I know Jed is really REALLY eager to progress their relationship. The tags have also changed a bit, because I don't think I'm gonna make anything necessarily that bad happen, so no more DD:DNE. maybe in another story, or maybe later! We'll see.
> 
> Thank you for all the comments, kudos, and bookmarks. It really makes me eager to write this since you guys are super interested. Sorry for all the mistakes again, Not beta'd and I hate reading my shit over on the first go. 
> 
> I'll hopefully will be posting one shots and other ideas for multi-chaptered works in the future. SO again if you had any ideas for prompts ( featuring claudette ) , hit me with them! I love pretty much anything Claudette. I'm really happy to see her rare pairs, and even popular ships getting more attention. To say the least....I'm eating GOOD.


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